Many electronic game devices consist of a microprocessor or dedicated integrated circuit based system for controlling the generation of a video signal for display on a television screen, video display terminal or other display device. Many of these games mimic real-life events, for instance, flying a jet airplane or driving a race car. These games require the game player to interact with the game in real time. That is, the game player must respond to the game action as it is being displayed. This interaction in real time is intended to give the game player the same feeling as he would experience if he were participating in the real-life event.
The electronic game device is operated by an electronic game controller. The electronic game controller typically includes a number of pushbutton switches which, when depressed, send electronic signals over a cable connecting the controller to the game device for playing the selected game. The operator pushes these buttons to, among other things, select a game, to start a game, and to control a game piece being manipulated which can include a person, a race car or a jet airplane. Some game controllers include joysticks or steering wheel devices which attempt to give the game player a more realistic experience.
One type of game controller produced by Nintendo of America, Inc. (Nintendo) consists of a rectangular box having a cable for connecting to the game device and a select button for selecting one of many offered selections, a start button, an A button, a B button, and a control pad for controlling the motion of the game piece in either left, right, up or down directions, each of which are activated by finger pressure alone. As an example, one type of game controlled by this type of game controller is a fishing game in which the game player tries to catch fish from a number of different lakes. The lakes include natural hazards such as weed beds which must be avoided just as in actual fishing. The start button allows the game player to start the game. Once the game is started, a menu of selections is presented on the screen which includes Select Lure, Move Boat, Cast and End. The game player selects one of these functions by pressing the control pad until a cursor is positioned opposite the desired selection. Once the cursor is in place, the A button is pressed to complete the selection.
One aspect of the fishing game involves the ability to control the direction of the lure when presented to the fish. The fishing lure can be made to travel back and forth in a presentation mode which makes the lure more attractive to the fish. This is done by alternately pressing the control pad on opposite sides so that the lure travels back and forth (or left to right) thereby attracting the fish. While the motion of the lure corresponds essentially to the motion of a real artificial lure during a fishing episode, the alternate depression of the control pad does not correspond to any motion made during actual fishing. In a real situation, the fisherman will alternately move the fishing rod from side to side to create a similar motion of the lure.
Another aspect of the fishing game is the ability to reel in the fish once the fish has been hooked. To reel in the fish with the prior art game controller, the game player must depress the A button. The game player releases the button when the tension becomes too great on the line, as signaled by an alert tone resembling a ringing bell. At this time, the A button is released until the bell stops ringing. Once the bell has stopped ringing, the A button is pushed again to continue reeling in the fish. As before, this motion does not correspond to any real motion undertaken by a fisherman during the reeling in of a fish. As is well known, to reel in a fish, the fisherman turns a crank mounted on the side of the reel which pulls the fishing line into the reel and winds the fishing line around a spool. When line tension becomes too great, the fisherman stops turning the crank.
As can be seen, the realism of the fishing game is substantially diminished by use of pushbuttons on a box controller. What is needed is a game controller which more accurately recreates the experience of fishing with a hook, line and sinker.